Villegas breaks ice for Pinoy Boxers

PARIS — Aira Villegas ably handled the gnawing pressure of being the first one from the Philippine Fighting Five to get into action, ending a lazy Sunday for the entire team with a crackling Olympic debut.

It’s near midnight in the City of Lights with Team Philippines smarting from the exit of fencer Sam Catantan and the struggle of the lady gymnasts when Villegas delivered a firebomb to set things off for the fancied boxing squad.

Villegas scored a unanimous win over Yasmine Mouttaki of Morocco in the Round of 32 of the women’s 50kg division at the North Paris Arena (early Monday in Manila), a victorious start that could serve as a good lead for the four other Philippine pugs set to climb the ring in the next few days.

It’s Nesthy Petecio and Eumir Marcial’s turn to kick off their Paris drives Tuesday.

Petecio fights Jaismine Lamboria of India in the 57kg Round of 32 while Marcial tackles Turabek Khabibullaev of Uzbekistan in the 80kg Round of 16.

Hopes are high both can go all the way to the medal rounds as they did in their part in the country’s breakthrough 1-2-1 gold-silver-bronze showing in Tokyo in 2021.

Also plunging into action Tuesday are swimmer Kayla Sanchez in women’s 100m freestyle and judoka Kiyomi Watanabe as rower Joanie Delgaco races in the women’s single sculls quarterfinals.

A large amount of pressure was off with Villegas, a 28-year-old fighter from Tacloban, getting things done in the opener versus Mouttaki.

“Iba talaga ang Olympics, ang bigat ng pressure. Medyo nabawasan ng panalo ni Aira. At sana diretso-diretso,” said coach Reynaldo Galido.

“Thankful ako sa mga coaches sa suporta nila. Pinakinggan ko lang ‘yung mga sinasabi nila,” said Villegas, steered by coaches Galido and Ronald Chavez.

There’s also Marcial who was up on his feet in the VIP section all throughout the fight, his thunderous voice also serving Villegas very well.

“Si Marcial ang pinaka dinig na dinig ko, at talagang pinapakinggan ko dahil pareho kaming southpaw,” said Villegas.

Up against a rival supported by the boisterous crowd, Villegas couldn’t be daunted or overwhelmed, beating the Moroccan in crisp exchanges and getting the nod of all the judges in the end.

Slovakian Radoslav Simon gave all three rounds (30-27) to Villegas while Canadian Wade Peterson, Guatemalan Emerson Alejandro Pastor Arreaga, Hungarian Veronika Szucs, American Shawn Reese and Germany’s Susann Kopke called it 29-28 also for the Filipina.

With the win, Villegas advanced to the Round of 16 versus second seed Roumaysa Boualam from Algeria.

Interestingly, the two know each other well as they trained together in Germany in the run-up to the Paris Games.

“Alam ni Villegas na laruin ‘yan,” said Galido.

Moments earlier at the Bercy Arena, Filipina gymnasts Levi Ruivivar, Emma Malabuyo and Aleah Finnegan strutted their stuff while all eyes were on US superstar Simone Biles.

Through the first three subdivisions, Biles, as expected, was up there on top of the all-around leaderboard while Ruivivar, Malabuyo and Finnegan were 40th, 41st and 47th respectively.

At the conclusion of all five subdivisions, the top 24 qualify to the final.

Finnegan was 17th of 20 in vault, Ruivivar was 40th of 80 in uneven bars while Malabuyo 57th of 79 in balance beam and 25th of 77 on floor exercise. The top eight in each event advanced.